Woman shot, killed after trying to run down security guard identified

SAN ANTONIO – Authorities identified the woman who was shot and killed by a security guard early Monday morning outside a Northeast Side bar.

Lorna Serrano, 42, was shot in the Bar 23 parking lot in the 4400 block of Walzem Road. The Bexar County Medical Examiner said her death was a homicide, but the security guard who shot her will not face charges.

Bar 23 manager James Vela said a woman, who was not a customer, started speeding through the parking lot.

"We heard a car speeding up toward us,” Vela said. “She was coming so fast we thought she was going to run us over, so we kind of jumped to the side and she pulled over."

Vela said he told the woman driving the car to slow down before she hurt someone.

“Well, when I said that, she got mad and the passenger [did] as well,” Vela said. “And they start telling me, 'who do I think I am?'"

Vela said he went and found one of the security guards from an outside company the club uses.

Police said the guard, Jeromy Abbott, was trying to break up the fight when he accidentally bumped the woman’s car. From there, the situation escalated.

"She attempted to run over the security guard, I believe after repeated requests for her to stop. He fired his service weapon one time, striking the victim in the neck,” says Ofc. Carlos Ortiz with the San Antonio Police Department.

Serrano died at the hospital. Police said witnesses backed up the security guard’s account.

"Right now, we have no charges pending on the security guard,” Ofc. Ortiz says.

Vela just wishes the night had never happened.

"Well, he felt threatened. And she was going to run him over,” Vela said. "No one wants to die. No one wants to witness that, and unfortunately I witnessed that last night."

In the past year, SAPD officers been to the bar 35 times, including for multiple calls involving disturbances with guns.

Vela said the bar plans to hire more bouncers and more security guards.